My Story: I Got Physically Assaulted For Taking A Photo Of A Guy Breaking Traffic Rules

There are very few among us who take steps to fight against social problems we feel strongly about. In India, there are very few cities where we have Pedestrian road and it is very hard for pedestrians to walk on the road without being in fear of being hit by a vehicle. Now even pedestrian roads are not safe. Ankit Chowdhary, a techie living in Bangalore, tried to capture a person violating traffic rules and the person turned violent and tried to thrash him. Here he explains the ordeal face.

“I just got physically assaulted for taking a photo of a guy breaking traffic rules! Bengaluru Traffic Police BENGALURU CITY POLICE
Please share the video as much as possible!

This happened at around 10.40AM at Wipro Park signal near Flipkart (there were enough people in the jam to witness this). There are always a few folks who break the law and ride on footpaths etc and it is always an inconvenience to pedestrians so I duly take photos and report them – in hope it will slowly reduce. Today’s guy was an exception, as soon as I took the photo, he stopped his bike and started moving towards me to hit me. I realised he’s gonna get aggressive and hence started taking a video. He also tried to smash my phone in hopes that the video/photos will get destroyed too. I think the mic stopped working somewhere there. Just the most unexpected, unruly behaviour I have ever seen.

Dear Bangalore Traffic/City Police would like to file a formal complaint and this guy to be identified, charged and put through appropriate penalization. Do help in the matter.

Today I filed a complaint with BTP Adugodi station, Public eye and Koramangala Police Station (Bangalore City Police BCP hereon). Seems like Traffic violations will be booked for riding/parking on the footpath. BCP says this is a non-cognizable offence so they have to take permit from court hence will let me know in 2 days. They wouldn’t file FIR for that reason. Brings up few questions, though –

1. Its probably not a cognizable offence, legally speaking, but the whole situation as a package brings up larger issues at hand which should be dealt with if we are to make any difference in society. (any lawyers wanna help out here?)
2. What happens can set precedents on how cases are handled or just people being encouraged to come forward, help society at large – or the reverse can happen. Hence the first point about the larger issue.
3. No one came forward. People watched what happened. Its the first time I’ve experienced this first hand and I’ve to say, this is what seems to cause the Other People’s Problem mindset – but I think most don’t get that they/we are the other people. Awareness on 1 & 2 can bring awareness on this.
4. On a specific note, I think its great the initiatives that BTP & BCP are taking in regards to WhatsApp, public eye etc. But there is a need for some synergy across departments as well as a relative upgradation in their tech for citizens to come forward – rather, for it to be extremely simple to report anything to authorities (Any UX, Tech folks here wanna lead something to solve the problems?).

More when I have. Happy to discuss.”

– Ankit Chowdhary

The Logical Indian appreciates Ankit for fighting for the cause and also requests Bangalore traffic police to arrest the person who broke the law and to take strong action against people violating traffic rules.